


Winter Languor

by hubridbunny



Category: Naruto
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 17:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6575356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hubridbunny/pseuds/hubridbunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mitsuki fights sleep and loses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winter Languor

**Author's Note:**

> I enjoy writing these two as even more snake-like than they are in canon.

Mitsuki pushes open the door to his father’s bedroom. It is dark inside, and the warm candlelight from the hallway illuminates the chamber only briefly before Mitsuki closes the door behind him again. It makes no difference—he’s never had trouble seeing in the dark.

There are a dozen or so snakes curled up on the stone floor. Some of them lifted their heads to look when Mitsuki entered. They slither lazily away when he comes close, but they don’t bother him as he approaches the shallow pit in the center of the room.

The circular hollow is filled with blankets and feather pillows that look divinely soft. He wants to burrow under them and take a long nap… No! Mitsuki reminds himself why he’s here.

“Papa,” he whispers, reaching out to shake the blankets, “Papa, wake up.”

“Mitsuki,” the quilts shift until his father’s face is visible, “what is it?”

“You promised we would train together today,” Mitsuki says.

“Too cold,” his father’s eyes slide closed like keeping them open takes too much effort, “Too tired…”

Mitsuki sighs.

Because of its natural insulation, their underground home is usually warmer than the outside air, but nevertheless his father always gets like this in the winter. When it’s cold, he doesn’t seem to have the energy to do anything. He only leaves his bedroom every couple of days to eat, and he spends an absurd amount of time sleeping. Mitsuki thought it was just an intense hatred of cold weather until his father told him that he has trouble maintaining his body temperature.

Still, Mitsuki can’t help feeling disappointed. He didn’t think it had gotten cold enough for this yet.

“But Papa…”

After a few moments, his father wordlessly lifts his arm, creating an opening in the blankets. Mitsuki is certain it’s meant to be an apology, so he crawls under the covers and curls up next to his father.

Mitsuki squirms around while he tries to find the most comfortable position, until his father drapes an arm over his side, quieting him.

It’s nice and toasty under the pile of heavy quilts, and the blankets are even softer than he imagined. Mitsuki’s restlessness slips away from him as the pleasant heat presses down on him from all sides and warms his whole body.

Mitsuki yawns. He didn’t realize how tired he was. Maybe he could sleep, just for a little while… He’d get back to training after resting his eyes for a bit…

Mitsuki dozes off to the sound of his father’s slow, even breathing.

**Author's Note:**

> I actually learned something about snakes while writing this fic! In places with warmer climates, snakes often go into brumation (rather than hibernation), meaning their metabolism slows, they eat less, and they become less active overall. Although, snakes don’t actually sleep in brumation, so I guess what Orochimaru does here is like a combination of that and hibernation.


End file.
